Every Morning
by Samin90
Summary: He was an old elf who would greet her every morning. She wouldn't realize how close she was to him until it was too late. Two shot. Rated T for violence and language in chapter two.


**A/N: I have no idea how I came up with this, I was on auto-pilot while walking home from school and the next thing I knew I had typed this. (Also was that a run-on sentence?)**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill

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He was an old elf, well over 1000, he had thinning mahogany hair that was also greying at his temples and he always wore a designer suit. The man was as boring as can be. Every day he would greet her on her morning jog. Young Holly Short never even knew his name, but she would always wake up knowing that she would be greeted with "Good Morning, Holly." and all she could do was smile and say "Hey."

When her father died Holly never knew why she was even jogging, she should be at home with her mother. Coral Short was a level headed woman, relatively speaking of course, but losing one's significant other can make one do rash things. Holly rounded a corner when she was stopped by a frail looking by surprisingly strong hand. She was about to let out a steam of curses that only a goblin imprisoned for life at Howler's Peak would use until the saw his face.

"Hey" _D'arvit Holly think of something else! That's probably the only word he's heard out of your mouth in the past decades!_

"Hello Holly," he replied, his face barley showing any emotions, "I've heard of what happened, and I am terribly sorry." He managed a weak encouraging smile that said 'It's going to be okay' before continuing, "Please do send my regards to your mother."

"Er, will do." She replied. _That's the same smile he uses all the time. _Holly had a theory about this; it stated that the business elf had a traumatic past and that little by little he starting to convey more emotions. That weak smile was just one of the easier methods of conveying them.

"Thank you Holly," he said "and stay happy." With that he continued his brisk pace to wherever he works.

What was Holly going to tell her mother? "Hey mom, remember that business elf that I see every morning? You know the one I asked about a decade ago and you and dad said you have no idea who he is? Yeah, well he sends his regards." Considering Coral was lying on her Frond-sized bed near the edge of insanity that probably isn't the best idea at the time.

Of course Coral doesn't go insane; she's back to working LEPmarine in less than a week. Seemed like a good idea, time would prove so otherwise.

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Holly was on her way home from Haven General Hospital, it was nearly 3PM and only the occasional bootlegger was out. In Haven bootleggers smuggle human entertainment, mostly books but there were some vinyl records and cassettes out there too. Coral's words were still fresh in her mind, "my legacy must not be destruction." _It's not fair! Why do Mud Men have to be so barbaric, they're nothing but monsters! _Holly sat down on the sidewalk with her back against a building and silently wept.

"Holly?" the normally violent redhead look up to see who had called her name, "Holly, what's wrong?" It was the old business elf, clad in black Slilk pyjamas and equally expensive black slippers, no doubt imported from Atlantis.

"How did you know I was here?" she asked trying to hold back here tears.

"I live in the flat across the street," the elf answered pointing across the building across the street; it probably cost as much as a house halfway up Principality Hill. "I couldn't sleep because of the heat and I went to open a window, that's when I saw you crying. What's wrong?" he asked again.

Holly didn't notice the heat wave; she still had her jacket on from when she was in the Atlantis Medical Institute, the Atlantean doctors insisted Coral was taken to Haven General since there was no hope left for her and there were other patients who still had a chance.

_Stupid temperature regulators, trying to copy the weather above ground._ Holly thought while shrugging off her jacket. "Mom's gone." was all she could manage to say.

It didn't take long for the ancient elf to connect two and two together, he as well as the rest of Haven heard about what happened to the LEP submarine. And he knew Coral was due back from a mission out at sea, he just hoped it was another vessel. Of course that was foolish to think, the LEP only had one sub, the rest of the underwater fairy ships belonged to the Republic of Atlantis. "I am truly sorry," he showed another emotion now, sorrow. "You should get home." He picked up her jacket with his right and offered his left to help her up.

The walk to the two bedroom house that now belongs to the last member of the Short clan was a quiet one. Not because of the fact it was the middle of the night for fairies but because Holly was lost deep in thought and the elderly elf had never in a thousand years had ever found himself in a situation such as this.

They stopped in front of what is now Holly's home, the older elf turned to look at the younger one. "Holly, if you need any financial support don't hesitate to-"

"No!" Holly cut in, "I mean please don't; I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure you can," he said, "just don't do anything rash and try to get some sleep. You have the field exam in the morning am I right?"

_How did he know? _"Yeah, I guess I'll just…" Holly drifted towards the once cozy home known as the Short residence without any intention of sleeping. In fact after she locked the front door it took all of her willpower to walk towards the couch a few feet away. She lay there for the next two hours alternating between bawling her eyes out and fits of rage, mud men deserve to die.

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'_Good Morning Haven! It's 6PM right about now but you know that! You're all looking at your clocks wondering "why did it go off?" Well anyways the Demon's Dagger was stolen from Haven's Museum of __Fairy History overnight, this is an enchanted blade made by warlocks from the eighth family and is one of the few remains left from their culture. In other news a LEP submarine ha-' _Holly had somehow managed to jump the entire staircase when running upstairs to turn off (more like throw against the wall and watch it smash into little bits) her alarm clock.

The woman was set on autopilot, she got ready for the examination and walked out of the front door hardly paying attention to her surroundings. So when she passed the old business elf going the opposite direction Holly had to walk back when she realized that he was calling her.

"Holly I said good luck," then he added "are you alright?"

_Does he look paler today? _Holly thought._ Nah, just the lack of sleep and a proper breakfast. _"I'm fine and thanks"

"A quote before we part, 'Death ends a life, not a relationship' alright?" He quoted in English, a mud man saying? Before the young fairy had time to think about it, he had already said goodbye and left. Holly was back on autopilot, she came off it when her name was announced at the meeting hall in the academy.

Only a quarter of the students pass the first test, actually the cadets do a series of written and physical tests as well as several interviews with high ranking LEP officers, Holly was interviewed by councilwoman and wing commander Vinyáya. Then 25% of the cadets would be chosen to undertake an actual LEP mission, the difficulty would be chosen by the cadet themselves. The higher the difficulty, the better chances of getting into the LEP. However you have to be able to complete the mission of course, most cadets choose too low a difficulty, and the lucky ones get stuck in LEPtraffic. Some choose too high and end up in the ICU.

Holly was about to select the 'Captain' difficulty in the data tablet given to get when it greyed out. "D'arvit, who took the last 'Captain' mission?" she asked to no one in particular.

It was the ever so gung-ho Skylar Kelp who answered, "Sorry Short, never realized you were, er, man enough go for those missions." This would have hit a nerve but considering recent circumstances Holly could only respond by selecting the next best option available. "Hey I was going for the nickname 'Trouble' after I graduate, what do you think?"

"Honestly? I couldn't care less what you decide to call yourself." Holly answered in a flat monotone with the slightest hint of anger laced in it.

"Looks like someone has problems. Is it that time of month again?" Skylar always had a habit of talking too much, you think he would have learned after his interview. He was paired with the wing commander, however his interview came after Holly's and was pretty sure after it that she had tipped off the older woman about him.

_I have bigger problems than you can imagine Kelp. _There was a chime and the main display in the room lit up, showing who choose what mission level and were they should head. Everyone could pick out who was going to fail this part, they were listed at the bottom. At the top were the 'Captain' level missions, there were only five and Skylar Kelp received the hardest, taking the second to top place on the plasma screen. On the very top was the only person who choose a 'Major' level mission, everyone on the room thought the same thing: _He's dead._ Then they saw the name next to the number 1, all eyes in the room were now facing a spontaneous, auburn haired woman. Holly Short ignored these looks and quietly stood alone in front of door number 5.

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**A/N: This was originally going to be a one shot but then it got a bit too long, then next chapter has a lot more action in it. Also do you think Holly was a little bland? Anyway please do criticize me, point out my mistakes because I really want to improve my writing. I have all sorts of ideas but getting them onto paper, well actually typing them, is the hard part.**


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